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Regional Briefings on Over 10 Regions/Countries REGIONAL Greater China BRIEFING region “Time for action: Business & human rights in Greater China” including mainland China, Hong Kong & Taiwan August 2014 本简报另有中文版本，请点击此处参看。 Through rapid economic growth, Greater China has made massive progress in realising many social and economic rights, and lifting millions out of poverty. However, there remains a huge gap between international standards on business and human rights such as the UN Guiding Principles, and the actual human rights practices of companies (whether Chinese, or headquartered overseas), as well as the government in this area. This briefing surveys alleged abuses in areas such as labour rights, environmental pollution, freedom of expression and privacy. It analyses the ways in which companies are responding to these allegations – with a 77% response rate from overseas firms operating in or sourcing from Greater China, and a 50% response rate from firms headquartered in the region. It makes recommendations to companies and the government for rapid and effective action to embed human rights in business models, benefitting business, workers and local communities. There are several factors that mean the time is ripe for action on business and human rights in Greater China: the large-scale activism of workers and communities; a growing awareness among business of the need to operate responsibly; a government concerned by growing inequality and unrest; and the strong existing frameworks that provide practical guidance. Contents 1. Executive summary ........................................................................................................................ 3 2. International and regional context ................................................................................................ 6 3. How do companies from Greater China and overseas companies operating in the region respond to human rights allegations? ................................................................................................ 7 3.1 Response rates ................................................................................................................................... 8 3.2 Issues addressed .............................................................................................................................. 10 3.3 Countries of alleged abuses overseas .............................................................................................. 11 3.4 Sectors involved ............................................................................................................................... 12 3.5 Qualitative assessment of company responses ............................................................................... 12 4. Key issues within Greater China ................................................................................................. 15 4.1 Labour rights .................................................................................................................................... 15 a. Freedom of association ............................................................................................................... 15 b. Health & safety issues (including deaths) ................................................................................... 16 c. Child labour .................................................................................................................................. 16 d. Forced labour .............................................................................................................................. 16 e. Discrimination.............................................................................................................................. 17 4.2 Pollution affecting health ............................................................................................................. 17 4.3 Information and Communications Technology (ICT) companies’ cooperation with government efforts to curb freedom of expression and privacy ............................................................................... 18 4.4 Displacement / land rights ........................................................................................................... 19 4.5 Food safety ................................................................................................................................... 20 5. Overseas human rights impacts of companies headquartered in Greater China ................. 20 6. Corporate legal accountability .................................................................................................... 21 6.1 Labour disputes ............................................................................................................................ 21 6.2 Environmental lawsuits ................................................................................................................ 22 6.3 Other trends ................................................................................................................................. 22 7. Notable initiatives on business & human rights ....................................................................... 23 8. Conclusion & recommendations ................................................................................................. 23 Recommendations for companies ......................................................................................................... 24 Recommendations for governments ..................................................................................................... 25 9. Report authors .............................................................................................................................. 26 10. About the Resource Centre ......................................................................................................... 26 2 1. Executive summary China has almost a fifth of the world’s population. Its economy is the second largest in the World, with GDP growing at more than 7% annually. China’s rapid economic growth, driven by government and business, has helped to lift 500 million people out of poverty in three decades. China is one of the few countries to have met all the millennium development goals established in 2000: a major contribution to the human rights of its people in terms of right to a livelihood and education among others. Yet, this has been accompanied by the widespread neglect of other fundamental human rights such as labour rights and freedom of expression; as well as pollution on a massive scale, which puts citizens’ health and sometimes their lives at risk. There are many reasons why the time for action on business and human rights in Greater China is now: (1) the large-scale activism of workers to push for better conditions, and protests over environmental impacts and displacement associated with industrial projects; (2) a growing awareness among business that operating responsibly can help prevent and limit unrest and preserve reputation; (3) governments (both national & local) concerned by growing inequality, environmental damage, and public disquiet; and (4) the strong frameworks that are now available for companies and governments that want to do the right thing, including the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, which the Chinese government has endorsed. Substantial progress in embedding human rights in business in Greater China will promote and support growth with equality in the region, as well as creating more trusted and sustainable companies. Company responses to human rights concerns As our work highlighting examples of companies’ positive and negative human rights impacts in Greater China and the rest of the world shows, major abuses are occurring on a daily basis. At Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, we invite companies to respond to concerns raised by civil society about their conduct, before linking to the concerns from our website. This briefing analyses 223 such approaches: 127 to companies headquartered in Greater China (“GC firms”), either regarding human rights issues within the region, or in their operations overseas; and 96 to companies headquartered outside Greater China (“non-GC firms”), regarding alleged abuses by them or their suppliers within the region. Greater China firms are clearly coming under increasing scrutiny from civil society organizations for their human rights impacts. The number of approaches we make to GC firms regarding specific human rights allegations has almost quadrupled since 2005.1 The response rate from non-GC firms is 77%, whereas that from GC firms is 50%. Despite the lower response rate, when firms headquartered in Greater China do respond, they are more likely to do so in detail, directly addressing each specific allegation point-by-point (52%), than non-Greater China firms (38%). The fact that half of the GC firms we approach do see the need to respond publicly to civil society concerns about their human rights conduct, and tend to give more detailed responses than firms headquartered outside the region, should be seen as an important indication of willingness on the part of many GC companies to address human rights concerns publicly. Among GC companies, private companies are more likely to respond (56%) than state-owned companies (40%). 1 We made 21 of these approaches to GC firms in 2005-7, compared to 79 approaches in 2011-13. 3 While a response by a company does not always lead to action, it does indicate the company’s willingness to engage publicly
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